This invention relates to access cards, such as credit cards and key cards, and more particularly to credit and key cards having tab members provided with abutment member disposed on free ends thereof to provide coded information, the tab members being activated by the user to avoid unauthorized use of the access card.
The use of access cards of the key card type are well known in the art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,583 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,683. Furthermore, key cards are used in a security system to gain access to a particular room or security area, such as a hotel room as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,810, U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,453, U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,805 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,447.
However, the coded information on the above-mentioned key cards is set for each particular key card, so that if the key card is lost or finds its way into unauthorized hands, the unauthorized person can use any of the above mentioned key cards to gain access to the security device, room or area, where there is no way of preventing such unauthorized use one the unauthorized user has a key card or a copy thereof.
In the Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,342, there is disclosed a credit card having a foldable tab at each corner of the credit card to provide a different code associated therewith by folding down selected ones of the corner tabs to thus provide an additional encoded information for determining the authenticity of the individual when presenting the credit card to a vendor, where the credit card itself was one of those commonly used by banks or credit companies which have become common place among purchasers. Accordingly, the use of the fold down corner tabs prevented unauthorized use of the card by unauthorized users when the credit card was lost, stolen or copied, such as when the information on the credit card was obtained from the discarded carbon paper of the sale slip.
However, due to the fact that the coded information of the Applicant's credit card was obtained from the four bent down corner tabs, the number of different coded information was limited. Furthermore, the Applicant's patented credit card did not provide any means for maintaining the corner tabs in their bent down positions, and therefore the proper coded information could accidentally be changed when one of the bent down corner tabs was inadvertently bent back up to its original position.
In view of the above, the Applicant obtained U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,790 to improve the Applicant's above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,342 in order to permit a greater number of different combinations, and also to provide means for maintaining the tabs in their folded or depressed position or positions. The Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,790 discloses an access card having a card body including a plurality of hinged tab members which can be pivoted between a first position in a first plain and a second position in a second plane so that the selected pivoted ones of the tab members in the second position provide a particular coded information for checking the authenticity of a user of the access card. The tab members are arranged in a side-by-side position with a partition member disposed between adjacent tab members. Abutment members are provided on opposite sides of each tab member, and abutment portions are provided on opposite sides of each partition member for engagement with tab abutment members to maintain the selected tab members in the depressed second position. The tab members and partition members are parts of an insert member which is secured to the card body.
However, in some cases, during the handling of the access card of Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,790, the card body might be longitudinally twisted which would cause the disengagement of the tab abutment members with the partition member abutment portions when in the depressed second position, so that the tab members would pivot back to the first position and thereby lose the particular coded information. Additionally, the Applicant's access card of U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,790 did not include any means for positively stopping the pivoting of the tab members beyond the second position, so that the tab members could be pivoted past the second position which could eventually damage the tab members at their hinged portions. Accordingly, there is a need for improving the Applicant's access card of U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,790 to insure that the tab members remain in the depressed second position even when the access card is longitudinally twisted, and also to provide stop means to prevent the tab members from being depressed beyond the second position to avoid any damage to the hinged portions of the tab members.